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[kriss10]

I have three horses that do not like fly spray so I have been slathering them in "swat", and it helps, but when I went to buy a new tub the farm store was out. They had equispot, however, three tubes for $15 and it is supposed to last for ~2 weeks. So I took it home and put it on Killer to see if it worked. It did indeed keep the flies away and it seemed like it was going to be a good alternative to fly spray, so I was going to put it on the other two boys today.

We got up this morning to feed, and Killer was less than enthusiastic about breakfast. He eventually came in, with some coaxing, and ate, but it took some coaxing. He really seemed off. I racked my brain about what was different and what could be wrong with him, and the Equispot was the only thing I could come up with. I read the box for potential side affects, and #1 on the list was Lethargy. I immediately gave him a bath with a mild shampoo to clean the chemical residue off his skin. By this afternoon he seemed almost back to his normal, perpetually hungry self.

Has anyone ever used this product? Did you have good results? Any suggestions that are not chemical based? We just can't use fly sheets. Killer has had to wear a grazing muzzle over the last couple of years and the other horses grab and pull on it until it comes off, so a blanket of any type is not an option.

[Rngovvet]

I've used it. My girls hate it as much as fly spray. They fuss when I put it on them. It only lasts a few days to a week.

I'm using Fly Armor on Gerdi and Diamond. Gerdi wears it on a break away halter, and Diamond wears it on her grazing muzzle. It works at least as well as anything else, but not as long as advertised.

There's not really anything that works as advertised, I guess.

[kriss10]

I hadn't seen the fly armour before. Killer has a TON of mane and tail hair, so I could braid them in and see if they work for him. As long as none of the other boys see them they should be ok, otherwise, they will become a toy, and Killer will have a little less hair...

[Joan Deutsch]

Kriss, I've heard of horses having bad reactions to Equispot. We had some luck with the ShooFly magnetic cards but they were a pain to braid into the manes. Swat on the belly must be helping a lot, isn't it?

[kriss10]

@Joan - I can tell you that the boys absolutely LOVE to have their bellies rubbed with swat. If I believed they had the reasoning skills to figure it out, I would swear they don't let me spray them so that I will slather their bellies with swat. It does work. I only have to apply it about once per week, and they don't have any adverse reactions to it. I wanted to try the equispot to give them some protection on the rest of their bodies, but I guess they will have to be happy with having a fly-free belly, chest and face.